Beauty and the Grubstick
by Jesus.Lives
Summary: COMPLETED.  AmandaHenry.  BettyDaniel and slight GioBetty. How does a Beauty court a Geek?  And what will Betty do when Daniel confesses his feelings for her?
1. The Bar

**A/N:** _What do you get if you cross the very lovely, heartbroken Henry with the token skanky receptionist? Well, lots of hilarity I can assume. So, I can see the slow phasing out of Henry as Betty's token love interest... I really hope they keep him around for Amanda, because she needs a guy like Henry - she just doesn't know it yet!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Betty, Amanda, Henry or even Gio... but if I did, this is what would happen:_

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**Beauty and the Grubstick**

**Chapter One**

Henry sat hunched over his melon wine cooler, rumpling his hair with one hand and slouching over the bar across the street from Mode offices. 14 weeks! 14 weeks! Why did he decide to wait the fourteen weeks before doing anything about Betty? He'd thought they'd both decided to wait… but really, he was a fool for expecting she would.

It was today that he found out the baby wasn't his… and today that he found out that Betty had moved on. Some guy named Gus or Gavin or something... Henry couldn't remember feeling this stupid before in his life.

He had book smarts, but times like this he realized how clueless he was about people.

To his left there was a large amount of flurry, someone plunked something down on the bar beside him which immediately began chewing on the towel over the bar.

"You can't have that in here."

"Excuse me; this is _Fay Summer's_ dog."

"I don't care. No animals on the bar miss."

Amanda scoffed loudly and put the mutt down at her feet. "It's not as if half the regulars in here aren't animals" she complained, and then noticed her companion. "Well, if it isn't Sir Grubstick. I didn't think you drank." She pulled the wine cooler from his hand and then took a swig.

He was apathetic. "I don't." He looked down as she handed him back the cooler. "Well… I don't usually…" he corrected.

"Oh sure" Amanda said pulling up a stool beside him. "Heaven forbid one of the virgin accountants on floor three ever does anything normal." She took his drink again, taking a bigger gulp of it this time.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Betty would it?" She caught on surprisingly quickly. "Flaunting her love life all over the office with that Gio guy, it makes me want to barf." At this she pulled over the bowl of peanuts and began picking through them turning to him again with a mouth full that she washed down with his drink. "You weren't going to eat these were you?"

_Gio. Gio._ That was his name. Henry was surprised he'd even forgotten it, he called the bartender over. "Another one, thanks." He said, realizing he was never going to get his wine cooler back. Amanda didn't say anything more, she just started guzzling the drink, putting the empty cooler on the bar with force and wiping her mouth, using her other hand to open nuts.

"What's the matter with you?" Henry asked, sensing he wasn't the only one here at the bar as an excuse to escape the real world… he knew about her eating problem. After all, it put an extra $250 on the office bill from the food he'd noticed her buy for certain "office parties" that never ended up happening.

She put down her nuts and slumped. "I met my father." She confessed.

"That's great!"

"Is it?" Tears were coming now; causing Henry to wish he could eat his words. "He hit on me. He actually grabbed my ass…" she continued in a high pitched wail, "My own flesh and blood and he just thought I was some sort of a magazine tramp trying to steal some designs from him!"

Henry reached in his pocket for a handkerchief and handed it over to her. He sat there pensively for a while sipping his drink. "We're a pair of chumps, aren't we?"

"Oh no, don't you go comparing yourself to me. You're the one who got turned down by Betty. Do I really look like that much of a whore?"

Henry gave a polite smile. This was a time where it was best not to say anything.

Amanda didn't buy it though… "What?"

"Well…" he stuttered, feeling pressured to just get it out there. "You did go naked to the black and white ball."

She snorted, "Details. Anyway, appearing naked at one occasion is no excuse for having your own father attempting to sleep with you."

Henry considered. "No. No it's not." He said glumly after a moment and looked at her handbag, "Give me your phone."

"Why?"

"We should call him. Let him know he's not supposed to treat his daughter like that."

Amanda laughed through her bloodshot eyes and handed it over to him. "OK. But tell him you're my boyfriend or something… or better yet, tell him we're engaged. I don't want him to think I'm some kind of a loser."

Henry was hyped up. Maybe it was the booze doing the talking. Maybe it was his heroic tendency to want to be there for a damsel in distress… well, even if the damsel was… _Amanda._ He found the number under "daddy" in her phone book and called.

"Yes, I'll hold."

"Tell them you won't hold" Amanda whispered to him, grinning ear to ear at the mischievousness of the situation.

"Actually I won't hold. I need to speak to him regarding Fay Summers." He cleared his throat. "Yes sir, I believe you met your daughter today, the one you conceived with Fay Summer's some twenty… odd years ago." He realized before speaking that he'd actually forgotten how old Amanda was, it didn't matter… he was on a roll. "Oh, you didn't realize? Perhaps that was because you were too busy trying to feel her backside to notice she was your daughter!"

Amanda threw her fist up in the air in victory so fast she almost buckled over off her stool.

"Who am I? **Who am I**?!!" Henry was growing nervous now, she could tell, but he covered it up, "I'll tell you who I am… I'm her friend!" He received a quick kick to the shins from under the bar. "Ah! Ah! I mean her boyfriend!" He stammered in pain.

She gave a self satisfied smirk and took the phone from him, "hi Daddy." She said, "Guess you really lucked out. Bet you didn't think when you were grabbing yourself some today that I was your daughter! You know, you can get a cheap screw anytime… but it's not every day you can get family."

She hung up the phone with a determined finger and flung her arms around Henry. "What do you know? That felt really, really good." She admitted adding a silent_ 'Ew'_ as she touched him in her mind, as he patted her back a couple of times. "Now com'on. Let me help you fix your problem." She ordered a couple more drinks and clicked bottles with him. "You earned it."

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**Request another chapter. You know you want to!**

**If another chapter is requested... **

**_"Henry's worst nightmare equals waking up next to Amanda... well, maybe third worst nightmare. The first two involve wrong calculations of some sort and having to stay in Tucson for the rest of his life."_**

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	2. At Home

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_**Due to the popularity of Daniel/Betty – I decided to incorporate it in. Please review for more!**_

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Beauty and the Grubstick 

**The Infatuation Begins…**

Henry's worst nightmare equals waking up next to Amanda... well, maybe third worst nightmare. The first two involve wrong calculations of some sort and having to stay in Tucson for the rest of his life. Maybe he was being overdramatic. She hadn't awoken yet and she wasn't laughing at him yet, like he'd imagined in his nightmares. But he lay there, staring at her like a lamb about to be led to the slaughter… well, a lamb that somehow knew what was to come. It was then that he noticed his rumpled clothing, still on his body and he gave a sigh of partial relief.

"Move it, Daniel." She muttered in her sleep and shoved him sprawling off the bed. He reached to the table he could make out blurrily in front of him and felt around for his glasses, trying to remember Hilda's famous hangover recipe that he knew he was going to need that morning.

Amanda spread out her arms, yawning dramatically until she spotted him on the floor; he put his hand up as a wave. "Hi."

She threw herself back down on the bed.

He ventured talking to her again… "ummm… last night, we didn't…?"

She turned on her side and looked at him – firstly, relieved to remember that they didn't. They'd just collapsed at her place after a night of drinking and her trying to get him some action. It turned out more successful for her, making out with the bouncer outside a popular club, but she came back and found Henry again remembering it was HIS mission, not hers to "move on".

Personally, Henry was spending more time moping than having fun and he didn't like any of the girls she chose, but she thought if he was after Betty than he shouldn't have been so picky at all.

Her second thought after his question was offense. _What was wrong with sleeping with her? Was it that repulsive a suggestion? Was it possible she wasn't as attractive as she thought she was? No, that was ludicrous and Marc would probably slap her right now for suggesting it… or even at getting paranoid at what Henry might think at all.__ Was there something wrong with her?_

She found comfort in deciding there was something wrong with him and not her, but she still had the niggling thought at the back of her mind.

"No" she put on her most lewd smile, "but we can make up for that this morning." She said, jumping on him. There was no way Mr. Not Good Enough for Betty was going to make her feel unattractive that morning. There was no way she was going to let him.

Henry dodged her and it was her turn to go sprawling to the floor. He pushed his glasses in further. "It's probably time I left…" he said trying to lift himself up and walk to the door, but falling back down in sickness, his face turning green.

"Oh sure" she said, "stay at my place and don't sleep with me. Great hospitality."

Somehow this line only made Henry feel sicker.

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_"Isn't it possible you might have a dependence on Betty?"_

He went over that line again and again in his head. His counselor (even though he wasn't even sure what he was paying him for) had mentioned to him somewhat of an overdependence on his assistant for more than just… well, assistance.

If anything was proving that point now it was the 113th time calling Betty on the weekend he gave her to spend time with her new boyfriend. He paced. _Where was she?_

"Daniel?"

She finally picked up. Great! But then she was probably expecting some kind of emergency, he panicked. "Yeah, I um… might need you today after all," he tried to sound casual.

"What is it Daniel?" She asked, sounding bothered.

"Well, I can't tell you until you get here, someone might be listening in."

"Are you on drugs again?"

"No. I'm serious Betty."

"Can we save the conspiracy theories until Monday?"

"This really can't wait."

"Fine." She wasn't impressed. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."

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	3. At The Office

**A/N. I keep thinking of that 'so cute it's sickening' website that Henry and Betty were looking up. So many things about that show just crack me up. That's one of them. And I'm looking forward to seeing Justin get some action. :D Poor Daniel. He's not very good at lame excuses to keep Betty around. :(**

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**Beauty and the Grubstick**

**_Unexplainable Reactions_**

Daniel had plenty of time to think of excuses but none were good enough. Maybe he should hire someone else to write them for him. He could do with a permanent excuse writer. He wondered what type of expense he should write it off as.

"Well… I'm here. What's the big emergency?" Betty came tearing through the door, as lovely as ever. Face flushed and a tinge of annoyance on her face.

"Oh, ah…" _Think fast Daniel. Think fast._ If he had stood any longer with a dumb expression on his face giving everything away, he knew he wouldn't have been able to cover it up so easily. Was it fair to expect her not to have a life?

_I need you. _

_I can't live without you. __Seriously.__ I tried for 12 hours and I just ended up screwing everything up…_

Now he just had to decide on which of these things to tell her… if he was stupid enough to tell her any.

She crossed her arms… "Daniel. There was a big emergency wasn't there?"

Daniel stuttered, flustered and did the only thing he had the gall enough to do at that moment – bend down and give her a kiss, just lightly feathering his lips over hers.

"Daniel!" She pulled away in shock, studying his face to gauge his intentions. Daniel just wore a helpless expression, one that said there were no answers.

She reached up and felt his temperature. "Daniel. You're sick. Don't tell me I have to check you into rehab again."

He could only smile as she sat him down in his swivel chair. "I like the one that has the villa's instead of the apartments…" he said, with his being-babied voice that he used whenever he just wanted to be mothered… (Which was all too often for a grown man such as himself).

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"I demand to know where Amanda is - This instant!" Marc said haughtily, swinging himself into her cubicle and looking her up and down. If drab was in, then he didn't get the memo. She was wearing a cardigan over a plain, pleated black skirt and looked 26 going on 50. 

"It's me." She hissed, trying to brush off the fact that she was dressed any differently to her usual style.

"You've either got your parents coming to visit or you're trying to impress those geeks down on level three." He gasped for a moment as Amanda tried to cover up the Sudoku puzzle she had been struggling on and he took a hurried puff of his inhaler to try to cover the onset of wheezing that was imminently coming. "Oh, honey! Don't tell me you're trying to impress someone on level three."

"Of course not." She said, pouting and shoving a cookie into her mouth that was hidden in her draw.

He took the cookie from her, "then why would you be looking like that and… gasp! Working on numbers!" He didn't have to feign horror. He was genuinely horrified.

She struggled to get the Sudoku puzzle back and he threw her the cookie again in pity, which she pounced on.

"Mandy… honey…"

She took a deep breath, but there were no more cookies hidden in her draw to temporarily avoid having to come to terms with the way she felt. "Henry doesn't want to sleep with me!" she wailed, clinging to Marc.

"Of course, Henry doesn't want to sleep with you. Henry doesn't want to sleep with anyone. He's Henry." He patted her back and she wiped her tears on his blazer. "Poor baby."

She was hiccupping now.

"You know what you need. You need a good night out at club zero. There you'll find plenty of people who'll want to sleep with you!"

Amanda harrumphed into his expensive clothing and he shook his head in continued pity.

"Poor, poor delusional Amanda, always wants what she can't have… Henry… Me."

Amanda rolled her eyes, but besides being an egomaniac, he was her best friend and he knew her better than anyone. "This isn't helping."

Marc's eyes grew wide and he leapt under Amanda's desk. "Ah! 12 O'clock! 12 O'clock! It's him!" he whispered as Amanda tried to make herself look… like an over styled fellow assistant _didn't_ just hurl themselves between her legs.

"Henry!" she cried, not caring for a second if she sounded overly enthused.

"Have you seen Daniel? I need to ask why there's an expenditure for an 'excuse writer' on this weeks expense report."

"I have no idea…" she drawled, "listen. I was thinking that Marc and I…" she heard a cough from under her but she kept going, "really need help on our budgets for this year. Would you mind to take a look at it with me?"

"Now?"

She heard heavy wheezing now and she wasn't much calmer she started opening draws looking for something she could pass off as a budget in vain. She kept throwing things around her circular cubicle until Henry finally conceded to her stalling.

"I think I see Daniel. We'll see about this later."

Marc crawled out from under her desk space, sweat beading on his forehead and bringing his inhaler away from his mouth long enough to talk. "You want me to steal Willie's budget?"

She nodded and started putting things back away again.

"You do know you can do better than Henry, right sweetie?"

The only thing worse than being reminded of her age, was being under the fear that she doesn't still have 'it'. Henry was her chance at that. Maybe even her last big 'hurrah' before giving up on going down the same fateful path of her late mommy - Heaven forbid! There really was no one else. There really was no other rejection worth compensating for at this moment... even if Marc couldn't understand.

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	4. In Rehab

_**A/N:**_

_Yes. I cave to peer pressure. Since Henry has announced the unfortunate news, I've tried my best to steer the story back away from the unfortunate path of "AU". So, I'll leave the baby stuff to a minimum. But it's the perfect excuse for Henry and Amanda to get together. They both have daddy issues – she wants one and he's going to be one! (and uh… he also wants one too FYI)._

_Anyways… thanks for all the lovely encouragements. Ugly Betty rawks. Pity I don't own it, cause I'd NEVER even consider sending Henry to Tucson. He's too cute. Afraid of tripping. I still "eee" at that. (Perhaps cause I am too… and it makes me feel like less of a dork to have someone as hot as him say it.)_

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**Beauty and the Grubstick**

**All For Betty (and Henry)**

"So you're in rehab at the moment all because you don't want to tell your assistant how you feel about her?"

"That's pretty much it." Daniel fumbled with his pills as he spoke to one of the other residents. The villas didn't even do much to cheer him up. "Are you going to take those?" He indicated to the other man's pill cup.

Daniel knew why he didn't mind rehab. He got more drugs here than he ever got out of rehab. It was the ultimate of all escape places. The man handed over his cup.

"You're going to have to tell her eventually."

"What? Are you kidding?" Daniel gaped at him. "Betty's only just got together with this guy she's liked for… well for the last few months. I can't screw this up for her. I won't screw this up for her." He downed his pills in one action. "Betty deserves better than that." He hung his head. "Betty deserves better than me."

"That's a pretty high pedestal to put someone on."

Daniel smirked. "You know, Betty would say the exact same thing. She claims she's normal, just like everyone else… but the truth is, I've never met anyone like her before." He swallowed the other set of pills and started to grow woozy.

Daniel had to make himself sick, it was the only way to cope with how sick he was feeling inside – the horrid feeling of wanting to break Betty and Gio up, and the horrid feeling of putting himself last for once. It wasn't a natural reaction for Daniel. But Betty was worth every moment of it.

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Henry Grubstick

Likes: Chivalry, princesses, cute and furry creatures… sushi.

That was giving her a lot to go on.

She already had a cute and furry creature. She adored sushi. OK… Princesses were kind of tardy, but she rented a whole pile of Disney classics and did venture to one day watch them.

_"Mandy, you could totally do that!" _Marc told her when she went through the movies, picking out outfits from the covers.

Now they were sitting in front of an expense report while Amanda was daydreaming about a princess-like ending to this day, instead of a numbers-based ending.

"You spend $1000 on massages a year?"

"Um…" Amanda bit her lip. "Yes?"

"A budget has to be realistic Amanda."

"You don't think I can spend $1000 on massages a year?"

"Do you have $1000 to spend on massages a year?"

"Not this week."

"Then I think we can erase that. What's next?"

"Do you really enjoy this?"

"What?"

"This" she waved her hand over the paper In front of them, "budgets and stuff."

"Well… numbers are interesting."

"So you always wanted to become an accountant?" Amanda stifled a yawn.

"You really have no idea how important numbers are? It's a good career. You always wanted to become an office professional?"

"It's a secretary. I'm not going to fake that what I am is better than what it is. Anyway, I wanted to be an actress."

"Unfulfilled dreams" he mused. He'd had his share of those. Finding out the baby was his, and then it wasn't and then… losing Betty.

"Is all you ever do is mope?"

Henry peered at her. "What else do you have in mind?"

"Com'on. I have something to show you."

Step one: Furry creatures. Definitely the easiest. And hopefully the dog costumes she had Christina made are too cute for words to ANYONE who saw her little pooch in them. She smiled, reveling in her deviousness. _Her mother would probably be so proud of her!_

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**Review for more, guys!**

**J.L**


	5. The Hospital & The LURVE Dungeon

**A/N**

_It's a shorter chapter... but I got it done fast! And I can just imagine Gio calling Daniel 'Danny' for some reason... and Betty various nicknames._

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**Beauty and the Grubstick**

**Oh Daddy! Oh Daniel!**

"Ohmigosh! Daniel. Daniel. Can you hear me?!!"

"He's overdosed ma'am."

"Overdosed? Again? Wait one second did you call me ma'am?"

"Hey, Sweet-Cheeks" said a familiar half-mocking voice beside her, "are you going to take that?"

"Not now Gio."

Gio still had sweet things on the mind after their weekend away. Daniel lay in the hospital bed, his face pale as Betty watched over him, concerned and Gio watched over both of them, partially amused.

"Oh, this is all my fault! I shouldn't have suggested rehab! There were other ways to deal with everything!"

"You know what your problem is? You blame yourself too much! You can't blame yourself for where he ends up."

"Yes I can!" Betty started sobbing into her hands, "I can Gio. Daniel kissed me and I assumed he was on drugs. I didn't think putting him in rehab would get him into more drugs!"

"Wait. Danny kissed you?"

"Well…" she stuttered, "it wasn't anything really… like a kiss between friends. I mean… its Daniel!" She let out an overcompensating, strained laugh and turned back to the bed.

_I__t__'s__ Daniel. And there's no way there could be anything between the two of us… right?_ She asked herself inwardly, trying to reassure herself.

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"Do you like her better with the pink bow or the silver tux?" Amanda was holding out outfits in front of her dog after pulling a surprised Henry into the secret love shack concealed by the shoe racks. Henry had to have been one of the few people in the building unaware of the room's existence. He actually had to say that he never imagined that something like this would be here. 

_"Don't touch that!"_ Amanda had to warn him as he got a little too interested in what the whips were doing on the walls when they first came in (and no, it wasn't a medieval dungeon… or so she had to remind him).

"Let me see the pink bow again" Henry said, smiling and petting the dog on the head. "I don't believe this" he confessed, "Dressing up this dog is making me feel all fatherly again. Like I could be good at this. At being a father."

Amanda looked at him, mind reeling. _Fatherly._ There was something about that word that just made her want to jump on him… and here they were in an abandoned love shack… and hopefully Marc and his photographer friend weren't going to drop in any minute soon and ruin the mood.

She didn't hesitate; she threw her beloved pooch aside and threw her legs over him, pressing her body against his. "Oh Daddy!" she murmured as her lips stuck themselves to his and he struggled to free himself.

He got free and she pretended to dust herself down and rapidly covered her ego. "I was hoping you were going to say silver tux."

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**Reviews ALWAYS inspire!**


	6. The Hospital & Out For Sushi

**A/N**

_I need to stop writing this!!! It's addictive!_

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**Beauty and the ****Grubstick**

**Chivalry and Sushi**

"OK. So that didn't work. It's ok Amanda, you can bounce back." She reassured herself looking in the bathroom mirrors and wondering if she should just go and ask Betty how she did it. _'__Ewww__… asking__ Betty for advice. Have I really become that desperate?'_

She had. But she didn't like to think about that. It was time to implement step 2. If he wasn't won over by the cute and furry wonder dog, maybe he could be won over by chivalry and sushi.

She arranged for Marcs friend – who everyone but the geeks on the third floor plainly realized was gay, to help attack her and maybe grab a feel (or at least her purse if he couldn't bring himself to touch her) at the sushi bar.

"Thanks for meeting up with me to fix the budget."

"No problem, what were you thinking… of doing with this?"

_'I was thinking of you and me in the love dungeon with the whips. I'd even be the submissive first__ if that's what you want__.'_ She thought and then realized she hadn't answered yet. "You're good with the numbers. How about you work it out?"

"Um, ok. So if I do your budget, will you actually follow it?"

She twirled a piece of hair between her fingers and picked up a piece of sushi with her chopsticks in her other hand, shrugging and offering him the sushi which he glanced her over and then didn't even act as if she had offered him anything, going back to the stats on the paper. She dropped the sushi and crossed her arms.

"You need to be serious about this Amanda. A budget isn't something you just throw into a draw and forget about."

She had to resist rolling her eyes. Thankfully the opportune moment came along and she spotted Marcs friend who took no time approaching them and ripping Amanda's purse from her arm then trying to race away.

Henry got up quickly and followed the guy, hot on his tail.

Amanda covered her eyes. She couldn't watch. It's was just too much. She peeked though and saw Henry grab the guy by his shoulder and then punch him as he turned around to face Henry.

She leapt up in time to see the flushed-faced accountant turn around, in which he soon came up and handed the purse back to her.

_'I think I might just love this man'_ she thought, heart racing as she grabbed his arm and took out a bill to pay for lunch. "My hero" she gushed, hoping that Marc wasn't going to damage her too badly for getting his boyfriend beat up.

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"Daniel?" 

He groggily opened his eyes making out the form of Betty leaning over him, then smiling a deliriously happy smile he reached around for her hand. "Betty, Betty… Is that really you?"

"It's me, Daniel. You ought to be more careful. You're in an out of hospitals more times than I can arrange all your 'get well cards'."

He felt giddy – like a schoolgirl with a crush, and kept grinning stupidly at her. Betty assumed they'd turned up his morphine or whatever anesthetic was making him feel this way. "Then maybe you should never leave my side."

She scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous Daniel. I can't never leave your side, otherwise how could I go out and find girlfriends for you or cover you in business meetings with people you despise?"

"I don't think I ever want another girlfriend again."

"Nurse! Nurse!" Betty called out; there was something SERIOUSLY wrong with Daniel right now. He had to be babbling. _No girlfriends? What was going on? Had Alexis woken up in his body?__ Was he going to become a woman now too?_

Daniel gripped her hand tighter, "I mean it Betty. I might never get the courage to ask you this again, so I'll do it now while I've got the chance. Marry me… and never leave my side again."

Gio, who'd just walked in with coffees for the two of them backed right back out of the room, whistling like he hadn't heard anything.

Betty's eyes bulged, "Nurse!!! NURSE!!!" She cried louder, hoping that Daniel was going to be alright and that he wouldn't remember this embarrassing incident for the rest of his life for the sake of them both.

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	7. The Hospital & The Office

**A/N**

_I'm still waiting for the new episode to download. And I'm glad for the Betty and Henry action I'm hearing about! – __But__ we all no that Henry's destiny is Amanda. ;) __After all, she wouldn't think twice about someone with so few issues as Henry. ;)_

_ALSO I put in a reference to"Ignacio __Suarez"'s__ appearance in the show 'Monk'. It's __gotta__ be the drugs. _

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**Beauty and the ****Grubstick**

**The Truth Comes Out**

Although the hero treatment worked in retrospect, Amanda was still no closer to her goal… and Henry was still seeing her as nothing more than an office annoyance that perhaps he was starting a VERY partial friendship with.

"He's not taking the bait!" She pouted her bottom lip out.

"Oh sweetie, of course he's not taking the bait; you're not putting yourself out there enough."

Amanda stuck her finger into Marc's chest. "I've done everything short of turning up on his doorstep naked" she over-pronounced every syllable.

"Well, maybe you should try that" he said, flipping through a magazine idly.

"What's that?"

"It's the new Slater. The new magazine Willie's going to publish when Mode crashes and burns."

Amanda lost interest quickly. "Oh. Anyways, I don't even know why I'm attracted to him. I mean those ugly sweater vests."

"And the uber fashion horror of that brown jacket."

"And the hair!" They both fell about in a fit of giggles until Amanda straightened herself up again, fixing her skirt and frowning. "It's just… I've never had someone stand up for me like that. Not even my own mother wanted me."

"That's true," Marc put in.

"And I'm sick of dating guys who only want me 'on call'. I feel like maybe I'm going for all the wrong men."

Marc flipped another page. "You do usually date either weirdoes or psychos…"

"And Henry really has this thing. You know… that not many other guys have. I think it starts with 'I' like indecency or ingenuity or something…"

"Integrity?"

"Yeah. That. I really think I'm going to want to go for it."

"Well good for you Mandy. Good for you."

"So how do I get a guy who's not interested in a Mode girl to realize there are other women out there than just _Betty_?" she wrinkled her nose at the name.

"Well, I know that Betty's taking writing courses. Maybe you should write something…"

Amanda snorted. "Have you seen me write something… ever?"

"It can't be that hard. You just scribble down your feelings or something."

_'__Hmmm…__'_ Amanda grabbed a pen and chewed on the end of it. '_Drastic circumstances, drastic measures. It's time to implement __step 3 of the plan__'_She thought long and hard and scribbled something down on the paper.

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The nurse came in, as Betty finally got her hand free. "He's babbling. You need to turn off his medication. "

"Medication? We don't give over dose victims extra medication. This is just water so he gets his fluids."

Gio came back in, "is it over yet?"

Daniel turned his attention to Gio, "I'm sorry to do this to you, I know how much Betty means to you… but she means a lot to me too and I've been doing a lot of thinking…"

"Man, I thought you were joking! Still buzzed out or something…" Gio ran his hand through his hair.

"Daniel. What's going on? Was it rehab? I know in rehab they force you to come up for excuses why you do certain things… and you don't need any of those excuses Daniel. You're just you, Daniel Meade… don't need any excuses for anything." She was rushing through her speech, heat rising in her cheeks, trying to cover up him saying what he said. _It was just absurd!_ There had to be some way around this.

"Betty, I was thinking _before_ rehab. I kissed you _before_ rehab."

"Yeah, but you weren't thinking straight then. It was the drugs" she pounded her fist down on her palm. "It's always the drugs."

"What is this? _'Everybody loves Betty?'_ All we need is that accountant guy here to complete the circle." Gio complained, it didn't seem like Gio ever felt threatened… not when it came to Betty anyhow… just with sandwiches.

Betty crossed her arms. "You know that it's over with Henry."

The nurse shook her head and left the room after being there for much too long.

"Look. I didn't want to feel this way! I just do!" Daniel cried from his bed, feeling the pressure on him now, and he turned to Gio "and I can't expect you to break up with Betty. But listen, how much would it take for you to consider it?"

Betty felt like she was the one who had taken the drugs now. She sat down on the seat next to the bed, head reeling, but had to get up again and keep her blood flowing, utterly confused over how she was supposed to act. _DANIEL? __Her?__ She was dreaming, right?_

She took a deep breath and sucked it in. "Daniel. I'm with Gio… and if you can't share me, then you're just going to have to get over it. Rehab or no rehab. I'm your _assistant_, Daniel. That's what I was hired to do and that's what I'm going to do."

"I know but…"

"I'm not finished!" she yelled curtly, cutting him off, "I mean, you and I are friends and you don't do things like this and betray a friendship! I trust you Daniel and I know whatever you're looking for – it's just not me. I'm not a 'Mode girl' and I'm not someone that fits into your… lifestyle. I'm just plain old Betty, and I like that. But please, just get some help, figure out what you want and stick with that."

She gasped a couple of times after getting it all out, Daniel looked at her with compassion, wanting to reach out and touch her face but knowing it would do no good at a time like now. Gio was the first to break the ice from the tense moment in the hospital room.

"Just out of curiosity now… how much would you be offering?" which caused Betty to pull him out of the room and Daniel to still hear his pleads of "I was just kidding sweet buns!" as he went.

* * *

**Review! Cause I wouldn't be writing this without you guys! (****and**** Wilhelmina will blackmail you if you don't).**


	8. In Queens & Outside the Ball

**Beauty and the ****Grubstick**

**Mode Girls and Fairytales**

The third part of her plan was the most difficult: princesses. She was going to become a princess and she had the perfect ballroom like experience in which to do so in. She was hard pressed getting him to go, so she put the ticket in his desk and wrote a note that Betty was going to be there… And then she was going to turn up and save the day (and him from painful humiliation of turning up alone).

She was going to be a real life Disney princess. _'Marc was right. I can SO do this'_ she thought to herself, as she placed a tiara on top of her head.

_'Just my luck – the first time I ever fall for someone that isn't a complete creep and__ he doesn't even like me_.'

The truth was, the more she thought about it – the more she realized she liked the Grubstick. He was weird and quiet and totally not her type, but then he was sweet and sensitive and he made her wish he was her type. She wasn't Betty… she wasn't _that_ girl. But she still felt like she had something to offer. She was smart. She was good at multi-tasking. She was good at mothering her dog. A little while ago Amanda thought she was barely more than a pretty face, but she started realizing that she was more than that. She deserved more than someone who was just there for a good time. She actually deserved someone like Henry. She wanted Henry. Dorky sweater vest and all.

The ball wasn't that difficult, there was always some new event happening and Wilhelmina was too distraught over her plans of editing a fashion magazine to care if a few tickets went missing from her mail every now and then.

She arrived early scoping the scene, waiting for her prince… and then _he_ arrived, frantically looking over the crowds to find Betty and dressed in a tux, just as she requested in her note. She imagined the look of his heart breaking when she would tell him that she set him up, that Betty wasn't coming.

Throwing her tiara to the ground, Amanda sucked it up and whisked him aside. "Betty's not coming."

He gaped at her, though not quite comprehending.

"That note in your desk… it was from me."

Henry shook his head, flabbergasted. "Who would do something like that?"

She looked to the floor, ashamed of herself.

"I go all out to see Betty keeping the last glimpse of a hope that she might take me back, despite the fact that I have all these issues. Despite the fact that things could never be normal for us… and you just put that note in my desk as a joke?" He was fuming.

She nodded, wishing Marc was there right now to take some of the heat for this… after all; it was his idea… partly.

"Well, I hope you have a good night." He said fishing in his pocket for his glasses angrily. "I'm sure at a party like this; you'd be among like-company."

He started to storm away but she called out, tears staining her face. "_Betty, Betty, Betty! _That's all I hear about! Did you ever stop to realize there are other people in the world? Maybe ones who have dated guys with more baggage than your whole baby-scam! Maybe someone who's over having guys treat her like a doormat and thought she might actually have a chance with someone that didn't for once!" Her voice was choked up and he stood unwavering in his place. "Of course not. Because girls like me always have every creep in the block chasing after her, but never the ones that are worth anything!"

She almost wished that this was as easy as breaking it off with Daniel – but she didn't usually let down her guard easily. She wiped away a few more tears and turned and walked away in the other direction.

_Alone at 26._ Amanda couldn't think of anything more depressing. And _soon she'd be 27. Ok… THAT was more depressing. _She walked along drifting into the park, keeping a tighter watch on her purse and wondering why she tortured herself like this.

* * *

Betty tried her best to ignore everything that happened over the next few days. She didn't return Gio's calls; and actually threw her cell out her window when Daniel called. It was all one giant mess, one giant _depressing_ mess.

"Betty, shouldn't you be getting to work about now?" It was Hilda. Betty dove herself further under the covers. "Come on Betty. I know you can't be avoiding work, so why don't you come out here and tell me what's really going on."

Betty wrapped her blanket around her and complied, leaning in her doorway as Hilda looked her up and down. "Daniel told me he loves me."

Hilda had to sit down and she ran a manicured hand through her hair. "Oh, Betty this is big. What did you say?"

"What do you think I said? I told him he was crazy! The only reason he likes me right now is because I took time off with Gio."

"Or maybe he's just woken up to what's in front of him all this time."

Betty snorted and sat down next to her.

"It's possible!" Hilda defended. "You don't know how big of a catch you are sometimes, Betty." Hilda reached out and squeezed her cheeks as Betty flinched.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm not a great catch" Betty started with disbelief still in her voice, "but I'm just not Daniel's type. "

"You mean you're not a 'Mode girl'?" Hilda sighed, "Let me tell you something about those 'Mode girls' – they're never the ones to get the guy. They're always the pretty ones, the flings… but not the keepers. You, Betty, are a keeper." Hilda was smoothing down Betty's hair this time.

"Hilda. I have a boyfriend."

"What? Gio? Gio's not the guy for you Betty. He's not the one you'd travel half way across the country for. And Henry? Henry was a sweetie but he wasn't the one that had to work to understand you, that put the effort in like Daniel has."

Betty raised an eyebrow. "Is Daniel paying you to say this?"

Hilda chuckled, "you know what? He should." She shook her head, "it's your choice Betty, do you want to keep dreaming about fairytales and dating Mr. Averages, or do you actually want to start living your fairy tale? Because you have a chance to be the princess this time."

Betty buried her head in her hands, "you know how Daniel is… this could all be a spur of the moment decision, or a publicity stunt!"

"Or he could actually love you, have you ever thought about that possibility?"

Betty was speechless.

* * *

**Yes, I updated. And yes, Reviews are still fueling my inspiration. :D (and the thought of how hot Amanda/Henry, Betty/Daniel would be).**


	9. Continued

**A/N**

_Well... it's getting to the end..._

* * *

**Beauty and the ****Grubstick**

**Still Friends**

"That was quite the performance back there." Amanda whirled around. He'd caught up to her.

"I wasn't acting" she said, before conceding, "ok, maybe a little."

He didn't say anything more just started to walk in sync with her.

"You know, I never thought Betty could do better than you. Not even when she hooked up with Gio." It was a compliment, perhaps a slightly back-handed compliment but most of her compliments usually were.

"Thanks."

There was more silence. "So where do we go from here?"

"I'm not over Betty. I don't know if I ever will be."

She dropped all her unrealistic expectations like that: "All I want is for you to maybe act like I'm not some sort of obstacle in the way of your stalking Betty when you get to our floor. Maybe you could come up and say 'hi' to me for a change."

He nodded. "If that's what you want."

"That could be nice… as long as you don't let Marc see. He can be merciless when he wants to be."

He noticed goose bumps rising on her arms and took off his jacket, putting it over her shoulders. "Here, you're cold."

She wrapped it tighter around her as she looked at the lamps lighting up the path they walked. "You know, the park is really nice this time of night."

"If you avoid all the muggers…"

"And stalkers…"

"And rapists…"

"Oh my!" Amanda finished, giggling.

"So what do you want to do?" Henry asked.

"Well, since we missed the ball, I was thinking of going back home and tucking in my dog to sleep. I know it sounds crazy but she whines if I don't sing her to sleep every night,"

"That doesn't sound crazy at all."

"I'd invite you back for coffee…" she strained her voice, knowing it was too soon.

"Maybe we'll just leave it for the office."

She leaned over, stood on her tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night, Sir Grubstick." She said, trying to stop herself from sniggering a little at the name.

He touched his cheek where she kissed it, "good night, Lady Amanda."

* * *

"Mia! Someone's at the door for you!" Ignacio called out to Betty. 

"If it's a boy I'm not coming out!" Betty called back.

Ignacio responded instantly, "its ok, Mia! It's not a boy."

When Betty came out and saw Daniel standing there, she turned and gave her father an annoyed look.

"What? It's Daniel! I didn't think you'd think he was a boy!"

"Thank you, Mr Suarez." Daniel said, ignoring Ignacio's comment that was probably the product of familiarity and opening the door and letting himself in.

Ignacio left again to go to the kitchen.

"Sorry if this is embarrassing for you." Daniel started, Betty crossed her arms.

"It's not embarrassing. Why would it be embarrassing? It's perfectly natural for your boss to claim to have feelings for you and then get put into rehab because of it!"

"Hey, rehab was your idea!" Daniel held up his hands in a 'don't shoot' manner, while she paced. "I'm not here to deny my feelings…"

"Good. Good. Great." Betty said, faking a smile but not looking any more assured than she was before she said that.

"But I'm here to ask if we can just put it all behind us."

Betty kept pacing until what he said had processed. "Wait. What?"

It was Daniel's turn to pace nervously, "Well, it's too much to deal with right now and maybe we should just agree to forget about it, go back to normal."

"Why would you want to do that?" Betty blurted out, naturally curious.

"That's what you wanted to do. Didn't you? I mean, at the hospital…" Daniel looked confused.

"Of course. This whole thing. It's too confusing" she laughed it off. "It's not as if it would ever work between us anyway." She gave another little nervous laugh.

"Yeah. Ridiculous. What was I thinking?" Daniel replied, "You can't fall for your best friend. That's just…"

"Yeah" Betty agreed. "Daniel, you're doing the thumbs up thing again."

Daniel didn't wipe the freaked out smile from his face, but he put his thumb down. "Oh, am I?"

Betty slumped, "you don't mean it when you say you want things to go back to normal, do you?"

Daniel shook his head, "things could be amazing with you Betty. We owe it to ourselves to take that extra step."

"And what happens when you get bored? Or when someone better comes along? I'm just supposed to go back and work for you like nothing ever happened?"

"Of course not Betty."

"So what then I won't have a job?"

Daniel turned around, a look of frustration on his face, "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"Well you have to think that far ahead. There are two people involved here and you owe it to both of us to think out every detail."

"Why? Why don't you owe it to both of us to **not **think out every detail?"

Betty heaved a sigh, "you know why Daniel."

"Yeah, I do." He said dejectedly. "So that's it then?"

She was a little annoyed at how easily he was giving up and how influential her word always was on him. '_This is Daniel Meade! And when has Daniel Meade ever been a quitter!'_ That's what she would have told him if it was any other girl that she was advising him about… apart from herself.

"I guess so" she tried a smile to feign that she wasn't disappointed, that this was the way she wanted things to be… but she was just kidding herself. "Still friends?"

"Best friends" Daniel replied, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach and trying not to remind himself that she was right – it was too big of a risk to take.

* * *

**I think Henry is starting to get a clue. Daniel's really missing it though.**

**How about I just end it here? ;)**


	10. One Week Later Betty & Daniel

**A/N. **

_I was just kidding! Ending it like that... no way. Amanda's been working too hard and Daniel's been going too crazy for that!_

* * *

**Beauty and the Grubstick**

**One Week Later (Betty & Daniel)**

Betty was back to work again the next day – no problems, no complications, she just threw herself into it more than usual. It took a week later for Daniel to catch on to what was happening.

"Betty, slow down a moment."

"I can't Daniel, too busy."

She shoved a bagel in her mouth. He was slightly amused, "weren't you saving that for my father?"

Betty spit it back out again, "oh, right." She said, embarrassed.

"It's alright, you can take him mine."

"That's very considerate of you, Daniel." She tried to sound stoic.

He smiled genuinely this time, "At times I'm told that I can be considerate."

She smiled back. "Who would tell you a thing like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone who's paid too." He joked back.

"I don't remember complimenting you as part of the job description" she quipped.

"But you do it anyway." He couldn't help but continue to grin at her. Betty brushed her chin, unconsciously thinking that she still had crumbs there – otherwise, _why else would he be staring?_"Betty, this isn't working for you."

"It's fine."

"It's not fine. I shouldn't have mentioned anything from the start."

"Yeah, you really shouldn't have."

"So the only fair thing to do is to go on vacation."

"Huh?"

"You can even choose the location."

"Daniel… fashion week…"

"But this can't wait. I've thought this through." He sighed, "Listen Betty, you need to give me a chance to show you that I meant what I said. Then if anything happens that we want to forget about, it stays wherever we leave it on our vacation."'

"But what about Gio?"

"Well, I guess he could come too… but it might be a little awkward… what, with the kissing and all." Daniel joked again.

Betty blushed. "I'll have to break it off with him."

"What's stopping you?"

"The chance that it won't work out between us."

"How about you leave the worrying about that to me?"

"I can do that."

"So a vacation it is?"

"A vacation it is."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow" she repeated with mock-confidence but inside her brain was on auto-panic mode. _'What if it feels like we're forcing our relationship? What if everyone finds out? What if it ruins everything that Daniel and I have?'_ She felt herself begin to wheeze. Daniel noticed.

"Betty, you trust me right?"

She turned to him and smiled, she trusted him with her life, and he knew that.

"Well trust me that even if everything sucks on the vacation that we'll make the most of it – because I can't remember ever having a dull moment with you."

All worries about Gio and what everyone would think went right out the window. "You know, we might have fun" she said, her optimism restored.

"That's my girl" Daniel replied, "so go home and pack your things and let me worry about staging a disappearance for fashion week."

Betty was reminded of her last year, running around like a chicken with her head cut off and barking orders at everyone. It was horrible. "I'm looking forward to actually having a fashion week that I'll enjoy."

"Yeah… me too." Daniel couldn't have pictured a better solution than time alone with Betty to figure this out, it sure beat rehab and tomorrow could either be the start of something promising or a risk that wasn't worth taking – and Daniel was fairly confident in the former as the result of their vacation.

* * *

**Thanks W.A.W, didi, macabello, Laura, Melissa, Fern, abovetherim, Xira, CarolinaH.Manning for lovely reviews on the last chapter!**


	11. One Week Later Amanda & Henry

**A/N**

_I started this __fic__ with Henry and Amanda and that's how I'm going to finish it._

_Daniel and Betty's vacation is still up in the air, as I haven't even decided where to have __I__t__, but I am happy to say this __fic__ has brought me over to the __DanielxBetty __darkside__ – I'm now officially a shipper_

_So here we are the end of Beauty and the __Grubstick__ – hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing:_

* * *

**Beauty and the ****Grubstick**

**One Week Later (Amanda & Henry)**

A week later she asked him along as a fake-date to double up with Marc and Cliff, they'd been fraternizing in the office behind everyone's back long enough (unless it came about that Betty actually found out that Amanda was as close to scoring her leftovers, as she was to getting together with Amanda's leftovers) and Amanda really didn't have any other male friends good enough to invite - the only other option was Marc and he was the one holding the double date.

"Grubstick. That's an interesting name." Cliff brought up as Marc and Amanda motioned to him not to get Henry started on his name. Henry was bothered by other things though.

"Don't I recognize you from somewhere?" Henry replied, unable to put his finger on it.

"No!" shouted Marc and Amanda at the same time, exchanging worried looks.

"Just a familiar face I guess" Henry shrugged.

"So, I'm famished!" Marc said, as they sat down to dinner, "Anybody else? I know Mandy must be!" he rattled on and then put his hand up to fake-whisper to Cliff, "she's having a thin week."

"A thin week?" Cliff looked confused, "what's that?"

"Well my best friend Amanda, who's a doll, by the way, has a little bit of a problem controlling her weight. I mean – can you say 'up and down like a yo-yo'? I remember when she found out about Fay… she was almost the size of a whale!"

Cliff was shocked at Marc's abrasiveness, not like it was new to him, but if Marc was to have loyalty to anyone, he thought it would be Amanda… but apparently not. Amanda's mouth gaped open before she got up, acting not in the least bit worried, though Henry darted his eyes over her in deep concern. "Yeah, I'm just going to go wash up."

Henry followed her, catching her at the door of the restroom. "I can't believe he'd bring that up."

She wiped away a tear with her index finger, "its Marc. He can be as bitchy and self-centered as the rest of us girls. Plus, I think he's just trying to cover his bad hair day." She faked a smile, "maybe I should bring that up when I get back to the table."

He took her index finger to check it for smudges from her mascara. All clean. Before she could notice it, he had leaned in and met his lips with hers softly, his eyes closed behind his glasses. She wore a smile as he pulled away and still with her eyes closed whispered "nerd love" ever so slightly under her breath.

That was what it felt like. It made her glad of Marc's bitchy comments about her weight fluctuation and of finally getting to experience something she once mocked so freely… (And still kinda did, though she'd never admit it to Henry).

"What was that?" Henry asked, missing her whisper and adjusting his glasses.

"Just the nerd I love" she covered, pulling him in for another kiss, glad for another thing to throw in Marc's face. All her efforts did not go unnoticed after all – and for that moment she forgot about everything: Betty, Marc, Mode, retouching her makeup, all the horrors of what she had been going through with her biological father and everything was right with the world.

* * *

**Awwww****… ****Amanda/Henry love.**** Thanks for all the review love. You guys rock and inspired me to keep going with this ****fic**

**Thanks and hope you enjoyed reading! (and check out my Kenny fic for a cheap laugh).**

**Jesus.Lives **


	12. Note

_Thanks everyone!_

_I still was a little lost on how to get into a sequel for this story - so I went and made a vid instead._

_It's at **201easyboy** at **youtube**._

_Go check it out!_


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